Biotech boon: Novo Nordisk: Clayton.

• Author: Martin, Cathy
• Position: NC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: FEATURED PROJECT TRIANGLE

As the old saying goes, when one door closes, another one always opens. In Johnston County, behind the new door is a high-tech manufacturing plant that will be the size of seven football fields and create nearly 700 jobs. Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk said last August it plans to invest $1.85 billion in the plant, where it will make ingredients for diabetes products. The project came on the heels of Lake Forest, Ill.-based Hospira's announcement in early 2015 that it would close its local drug factory, idling 250 workers. Hospira later was acquired by Pfizer Inc. in a $17 billion sale completed in September.

Originally dubbed "Project Bright Sky," the deal marks the single largest foreign direct investment in North Carolina's history, and Novo could receive state incentives totaling as much as $16.8 million over 12 years if it meets investment and job-creation targets. The new jobs will pay an average annual salary of $68,420, 84% higher than Johnston County's average. Though the plant is under construction, hiring has begun, and 1,500 people applied for the first 50 positions, says Chris Johnson, director of economic development for Johnston County.

The county is a star among the state's strengthening life-sciences sector. North Carolina jobs in the industry grew at triple the national growth rate from 2012-14, according to a report released at last month's BIO 2016 International Convention. Johnston's largest private employer, with about 1,650 employees, is Barcelona-based plasma producer Grifols SA, which also has plans for a $210 million expansion (page 57).

The world's largest insulin maker, Novo already occupies a 20-year-old plant in Clayton, about 18 miles southeast of Raleigh, where nearly 800 workers assemble insulin pens. At 833,000 square feet, the new plant will be the company's first outside Denmark to manufacture active ingredients for its...